2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open
Pat Mayo takes a deep dive into tournament and player stats with the Rabbit Hole Tool from Betsperts Golf making his early 2026 Houston Open Picks, highlighting stats that matter inside the model, and previewing the course.
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WATCH: Houston Open 2026 Picks | Research, Sleepers & Course Breakdown
2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Field
Cut: Top 65 and Ties after 36 Holes
First Tee: Thursday, March 26
Defending Champion: Min Woo Lee
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Min Woo Lee has returned to defend his title along with Scottie Scheffler, Ben Griffin, Nicolai Hojgaard, Rasmus Hojgaard, Kurt Kitayama, Sam Burns, Jake Knapp, Chris Gotterup, Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Michael Thorbjornsen, Ryan Gerard, Jason Day, Taylor Pendrith, Adam Scott, Pierceson Coody, Sahith Theegala, Wyndham Clark, and the man who did a lot of the redesigns to the course, Brooks Koepka
Will Zalatoris is back on the course for the first time since withdrawing prior to his round 1 tee time at the Cognizant Classic almost a month ago. His last event was the Farmers in late January.
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This is the last chance players have to get inside the Top 50 in the official world golf rankings to earn an invitation to The Masters. If they fail, they’ll have to win next week at the Valero Texas Open to get the final spot.
2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Key StatsMayo’s Key Stat Rankings Powered by the Rabbit Hole Tool
2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Course
Greens: Poa trivialis overseed
Number of Sand Bunkers: 21
Number of Holes Water is in Play: 4
Average Green Size: 7,000 sq. ft.
COURSE
Par 3’s (5): Average Distance – 192 yards
Two have a bogey rate that is higher than the birdie rate, highlighted by #11 (20.2% bogey and 6.1% birdie)
Min Woo: 3 birdies and 0 bogeys on the Par 3’s over the final 3 rounds
Par 4’s (10): Average Distance – 469 yards
Three holes come with a bogey rate north of 21% and they are all Par 4’s (Holes 1-4-14)
Min Woo: Didn’t bogey a Par 4 over the weekend (multiple Par 4 bogeys in Rounds 1 and 2)
Par 5’s (3): Average Distance – 610 yards
All three have an eagle rate 1-2% and two come with a sub-9% bogey rate
Min Woo: Birdied Hole #3 all four days, brought in a sweat with a bogey on #16 Sunday
DFS Streak
Is this the course where this advantage is the greatest? It’s on the short list — Holes 1 and 18 are two of the four toughest on the course and that makes playing it backwards a tough sell. When starting on the front, you get access to Holes 8-9-10, all of which play easier than course average.
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2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Past Winners
2025: Min Woo Lee -20 (One clear of Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland)
2024: Stephen Jaeger -12 (one clear of five golfers, including Tony Finau and Scottie Scheffler)
(Played in November)
2022: Tony Finau -16 (four clear of Tyson Alexander)
2021: Jason Kokrak -10 (two clear of Kevin Tway and Scottie Scheffler)
WINNERS NOTES
2025: Min Woo Lee (+3000, T-3rd favorite) beats Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland by 1
Held a 5 shot lead over Scheffler and 6 over Woodland entering Sunday
8 of the top 9 finishers gained Prox 200+
2024: Stephan Jaeger (+5000) beats Scottie Scheffler Tony FInau, Thomas Detry, and Alejandro Tosti by 1
Five of the top six finishers gained Prox 150-175 (it was the only bucket in which Jaeger gained on approach)
Low bunker count and low impact … just 3 of the top 16 finishers gained Sand Saves on the field for the week
2023: No Event
2022: Tony Finau (+1600, T-3rd favorite) beats Tyson Alexander by 2
The top 6 finishers all gained putting from 5-10 AND from 10-15 feet
Finau was the second best putter for the week and Ben Taylor was third best (finished third on the final leaderboard)
2021: Jason Kokrak (+6000) beats Scottie Scheffler and Kevin Tway by 2
66-65 weekend for Kokrak was 10 shots better than Tway and 7 better than Scheffler
6 picked up 5+ strokes on the green, their finishes: 1-2-4-5-29 (Kelly Kraft being the outlier and he finished 29th despite losing 5.6 strokes T2G)
FIRST ROUND LEADERS
2025
65: Taylor Pendrith (PM), Alejandro Tosti (AM), Ryan Gerard (AM), Keith Mitchell (PM), Taylor Dickson (PM)
2024
64: Taylor Moore (AM), William Furr (PM)
2022
65: Tony Finau (PM), Alex Noren (AM), Aaron Wise (AM)
2021
65: Martin Trainer (PM), Russell Henley (AM), Luke List (PM), Marc Leishman (AM), Taylor Gooch (AM)
2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Notes
A 2024 May windstorm (a derecho, per meteorology terms) damaged more than 100 trees and then Hurricane Beryl in July which dropped 13”-plus of rain and damaged 100 more trees. This led to the lowest scoring ever in this event in 2025.
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Before 2025, there had not been an event at Memorial Park where the average score was below par. Last year’s extra scoring could be attributed to many things: Stronger field, lower wind, those lack of tree, or simply an outlier. If it resembles 2025, you’ll want the guys who swing the club the hardest. Five of the Top 7 on the leaderboard in 2025 were tops in ball speed.
The overseed now provides a much tighter playing surface than the bermudagrass did when this event had previously been held run the swing season. This will highlight the penal green surrounds, while shorter rough gives opportunity for aggressive approach shots to the green.
No. 17 green was moved 30 yards further back and two bunkers were added to the left of the green for 2024. Depending on the tee box, it is drivable.
Average fairway widths in landing areas are 30-40 yards yet one of the lower accuracy rates of any course. The three-year average: 55%
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Memorial Park is the third longest course played on TOUR this season and it is only Par 70. There are five Par 4s 490 yards or longer. They all play over par and are five of the six toughest holes on the course.
Tom Doak did a complete renovation of the course in 2019 (started in January and the course re-opened in November). Brooks Koepka assisted. The renovation and redesign brought ravines and water into play and reduced the number of bunkers from 54 to 19. Three of the bunkers are surrounding the 18th green.
Tons of run off areas and false fronts on a lot of greens. Many greens elevated as well. While most course have thicker rough surrounding the putting surfaces, Memorial Park has a lot of shaved off areas and very low cut rough across the course. The average PGA TOUR Event only sees about 40% of around the green shots from short grass, it’s 67% at Memorial Park.
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2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open Picks
Chris Gotterup — Gotterup sits 11th in the field in ball speed, has crushed long Par 4s all season, and has produced a far more efficient scrambling rate on closely mown surfaces than out of thicker rough. Probably won’t get away with losing strokes putting and winning like he did in Phoenix, but he won’t have to gain as many as most to find himself near the top of the leaderboard.
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Margo Penge — Finally produced a week in America where he flashed his upside at Valspar. Now he gets a course which fits his bomb, gauge, and putt profile. He finally gained with his irons at Copperhead, if he can keep that rolling, he’ll be a threat at Memorial Park.
Aldrich Potgiter — Look, if any part of his game beyond the driver shows up, he’s plenty live.